Pakistan tour of Sri Lanka June-August 2015

[PokerAce]

A few things I will sum up all in one post. First of all congrats to Pakistan for their stellar tour to SL. They won the tests and ODIs and now pulled off an unexpected win against in the final T20. I think Pakistan have outplayed SL in every department and the whole team deserves a lot of credit for that.

I did see a debate about Inzi's legacy in the sport, and whether he belongs in the absolute top bracket of batsmen of his era. This is a tricky one for me. To begin with, Inzi averages less than 50 in and his average dips to a very very average 43.83 when filtered for tests held in "Oceania, America, Europe and Africa", basically outside the sub-continent. Further Inzi didn't even score 10000 runs (8830), which basically every batsman in the top bracket has done. These are hardly the numbers of a top bracket batsman. There is no one indicator of a top batsman, but rather a bunch of numbers that indicate the worth of a batsman, and sadly for me Inzi doesn't live up to those indicators in any way.

However I will say this for Inzi, that there was a phase in his career in around 2003 for three years where I feel he was as good as any batsman going around, where he was in the zone. I filtered for just this period and it checked out. In the same period Inzi averages 57.10, and for this phase alone, I would place Inzi in the top bracket of batsmen for his generation. His over all numbers mayn't add up but in that phase he was really as good as anyone.

Speaking of Top Bracket Batsmen I would say -

Aus - Steve Waugh, Ricky Ponting (Hon. Mention - Michael Clarke)
B'desh - (No One)
Eng - (No one) (Hon. Mention Kevin Pietersen)
Ind - Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid (Hon. Mention - VVS Laxman)
New Zealand - (No One)
Pakistan - Inzi
South Africa - Jacques Kallis, Greame Smith (Leaving out ABD as he is not really in the same generation as these guys)
Sri Lanka - Sanga
WI - Brian Lara
Zim - Andy Flower

 

[LiveLoveABD]

Jayawardene?

Average in Oz 31, England 35, NZ 28, SA 28. I think Younis Khan is a better test cricketer than him. Inzamam for me too is a legend.

 

[PokerAce]

Yeah you are right about Jayawardene, I had never looked at his numbers closely, the first time that I look now, he has an avg of 34.5 outside Asia, thats a shocker !

Even Sanga's avg plummets when searched for outside Asia (58.04 vs 47.57) which is surprising. While a dip is naturally to be expected for almost all batsmen, I mean no one is going to score more runs away than in conditions he is used to (unless you are Rahul Dravid of course). However, the dip should be reasonable.

I think a dip of upto 5 runs/points is okay. Like for instance you avg 57, then away avg of 52 is okay thats acceptable, however 11 points dip is another thing entirely. However even with this dip, and avg of 47 outside Asia for an Asian batsman is quite acceptable, not great, but definitely acceptable, especially when coupled with an overall avg of 57. Sanga's place on the list is still cemented.

 

[Rehan_24]

Marvelous win by Pakistan. I can feel that this is a New Pakistani Cricket Team who is gradually all-set to pick up consistency in winning matches. Team spirit and Unity is the backbone of any Sports Team and Alhamdulillah Pakistan is gaining this up at this stage. For this whole tour atleast, The unpredictable tag has been removed. Good teams win from anywhere, And in the Final T-20 Pakistan shows that. I also saw that Pakistan now comes at number 3 Spot in ICC T-20 Rankings pushing behind India who was at number 3 before.

Thumbs up for the brilliant performance by Anwar Ali and a good batting comeback by Shahid Afridi.

As far as improvement goes, Sarfraz and Nauman Anwar have to come back in the T-20 Squad. Nauman in place of Mukhtar and Sarfraz in place of Rizwan or anyother under-performer. I have serious concerns on Mukhtaar's ability to score runs against good teams. Even against Zimbabwe where he scored well, His shots looked cheesy.

Why Sarfraz is not playing in T-20, That is a more serious concern....

 

[LiveLoveABD]

I think numbers are more of a reference. You look at a guy like Cook. They guy is boring as hell, terrible captain and I personally can't bare to watch him bat, though I have to being a cricket maniac, but his game is so complete in tests. I've never seen a guy with that limited a game be so outstanding abroad. And, I genuinely believe that a guy that can get runs in England, India and Australia can get them just about anywhere.

Look at someone like Ponting. He deserves a lot of accolades but compare him to a Matthew Hayden. He was just fierce in the sub continent. Plus, the number of test matches in which he has set the tone is quite something.

People talk endlessly about Chanderpaul. He's the most selfish batsman I've seen. Just plays for the 'numbers.'

There's a lot of media hype and perception involved in building a legend. For me personally, Dilshan is a better batsman than Jayawardene in all conditions.

 

[Rehan_24]

Pokerace, You did a fine analysis on Inzamam's legacy, but first of all it was strictly based on averages and stats rather than winning matches and cruising your team towards victory with your performances. However, lets come towards stats, we should also take a notice that how many test innings Inzamam has played compared to other top bracket batsmen (Stats Wise) Inzamam has played 120 matches with 200 Innings averaged 49 plus while Dravid, Kallis, Ponting and Sanga has much more innings and matches than Inzamam have. Had it Inzamam get 250 plus innings then the story may get different (Stats Wise). Moreoever, There was a time when Inzamam had the 2nd highest runs after Sachin Tendulkar and he was at Top in terms of Half-Centuries in One Day Cricket. Even at that time He didn't get the credit he deserved. Nevertheless, What I have seen Cricket so far and what I genuinely feel that making runs and putting on averages is one talent and winning matches for your team is another kind of talent and Inzamam was the PowerHouse of that 2nd Talent as well as He was in the likes of Top bracket Batsmen in the 1st talent (Just scoring runs) goes. More-over, He was the kind of Batsman who has played almost every shot in cricketing books an unusual yet beautifully looking leg flick of Viv Richards which Sachin always dream of playing was the special shot of Inzamam. Inzamam retired at the age of 36 and he still had 1 to 2 years test cricket left in him but PCB revived its insulting strategy of not giving a due farewell to its legendary players and alas Inzamam was victim of that. He wanted to play test cricket for another 2 years and had he played, Boy! The test Stats could look much different than they are currently.

I remember one of the most reliable sportsmen world cricket has ever produced "Imran Khan" said once that in India a debate went on to compare the centuries of Inzamam and Sachin Tendular that how much centuries of each indvidiual contributed to a winning match of the respective teams and Inzamam was ahead of Sachin. That debate and comparison was started when Imran said in india in a public gathered interview that in match-winning performances Inzamam was better talent than Sachin Tendulkar.

Talk about other players, Jayweredene, Chaunderpaul and the likes are C grade players sorry to say. They scored runs but I would agree with Kushal that they were selfish players. If you are scoring your own runs and not letting your team win, You can't lie in A list categories. Younis Khan currently averages 54 with 8,000 plus runs and he has 100 innings less than Dravid at the moment so you never know how much he can play further, we will have to wait and see. But at this stage If I compare Dravid and Younis Khan, clearly Dravid is a better player and far ahead in both talents, I have no harm in accepting that. Whats holds for future for Younis Khan, Who Knows?

Anyhow, My A+ grade batsmen list country-wise is as below:

Pakistan: Inzamam-Ul-Haq, Muhammad Yousaf
Australia: Ricky Ponting, Steve Waugh
India: Sachin Tendulkar Rahul Dravid
Sri-Lanka: Sangakara
Newzeland: Martin Crowe
England: Kevin Petersin
South Africa: Haven't seen Kallis much cant name him just because he has stats.
West Indies: Brain Lara

Sehwag, Gangualy, Jayweredene and the likes comes as B or C grade players respectively.